News from Seattle's Office of Economic Development

Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin released a report, Public & Private Investments in South Lake Union that examines the relationship between public sector actions and private investment decisions in South Lake Union and how they have contributed to job growth and economic development.

“South Lake Union has been an engine for job growth and new housing, helping Seattle recover from the recession,” said McGinn. “The City’s role has been crucial in helping support these new jobs. That work continues. The South Lake Union rezone proposal will help support up to 22,000 new jobs and up to 12,000 new households, including affordable housing, preservation of existing housing and open space, and other community benefits.”

“I was initially skeptical about some of the grand plans to transform South Lake Union into a regional public health/technology powerhouse. But the numbers demonstrate that targeted public investments and forward-thinking policy decisions actually did make a tremendous difference in shaping the future of that neighborhood,” said Councilmember Richard Conlin, Chair of the Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee. “The lessons learned about how our early actions primed the pump for job growth and economic prosperity will inform our consideration of the proposed South Lake Union rezone legislation and other infrastructure investments in the neighborhood.”

A few of the highlights from the report about the increase in jobs, development and tax revenues include:

that today, South Lake Union has an estimated 23,000 jobs, South Lake Union’s share of Seattle’s total employment has also increased over time.

From 1995 to 2010, Seattle added a net 34,000 jobs, and South Lake Union represents 1 in 10 of those jobs, indicating the neighborhood is increasingly a major drive of economic opportunity.

The city’s actions to support economic development in South Lake Union include: Regional planning efforts which gave a broad regional framework designed to concentrate growth in urban areas, and reinforced those regional plans in the City’s comprehensive plans, and supporting and investing in public infrastructure and amenities in the neighborhood, such as the Streetcar, Cascade Park, Lake Union Park, and the Mercer Corridor.

The King County Office of Emergency Management is collecting information from County residents and businesses on damage and losses suffered during the January 16-23, 2012 snow and ice storm. If your King County home or business sustained damage as a result of the storm, you may be eligible for federal disaster assistance as you begin to clean up. Follow these important steps for reporting damages to personal property and registering for financial assistance:

Step 1: Assess and document the damageIdentify and make a list of all the damages.
Take pictures of the damages.
Estimate how much you think it will cost for repairs or to replace your belongings.

Step 3: Call the King County Damage Reporting Hotline or file your report onlineComplete an online damage report form -OR- call the King County Damage Reporting Hotline: 1-800-523-5044.

You will be asked several questions including the estimated damage to your home and belongings, as well as your insurance coverage. This information will be used to establish a county-wide damage assessment which will aid us in obtaining federal assistance. Even if you have suffered only minor damage and do not expect to need assistance, you should submit a report. Information you will need includes:

Contact information

Address of the damaged property

Name of the owner or renter

Estimated pre-disaster value of the property

Estimated structural damage

Estimated personal property loss

Primary cause of the damage

Insurance coverage for the flosses and the amount of your deductible

Is the property habitable?

Is the property accessible?

Is the damage major or minor?

A description of the damage

Reporting forms

Residential:
The purpose of this form is to collect information from primary residences affected by this the January snow and ice storm in order to make a preliminary assessment of damages following a disaster. Detached garages and storage buildings, secondary homes and recreational homes should not to be reported. After filling out this form, click the “Submit” button. You may want to print this form before submitting via e-mail and keep it for your records.

Business:The purpose of this form is to collect information of businesses affected by this incident in order to make a preliminary assessment of damages following a disaster. After filling out this form, click the “Submit” button. You may want to print this form before submitting via e-mail and keep it for your records.

A report release last month by New York’s Workforce Strategy Center, “Building Effective Green Energy Programs in Community Colleges,” features several innovative Seattle efforts, including programs at South Seattle Community College, which houses the largest selection of construction apprenticeships in the state of Washington; the Seattle Jobs Initiative; the Seattle-based Workforce Development Council; the City of Seattle; and SkillUp Washington.

To read more about innovative new workforce efforts in Seattle, refer to pages 10-11, and 14, of the report, which examines the burgeoning national ‘green’ industry, its economic promise, and the challenges and strategies involved in cultivating green jobs and the workers who fill them.

Julian Alssid, a researcher involved in writing the report, wrote recently about the group’s findings in a column for the Huffington Post, “The Promise of ‘Green’ and a Dash of ‘Reality’” (June 3, 2010). Alssid writes, “Our research…discovered several examples of how we might be able to develop the kind of training and development that will be needed to support the new industries when they are ready.”